Chuck, I Would Like to Buy a Word

Power and Control. There are many forms of power and ways to try and control others. Some groups, like our government, do it with laws, rules, and regulations. Some use money as the ultimate form of control. He who has the most is the winner, right? Other people use security, threatening to take it away as in co-dependency as a way to power over others. Abuse falls into this category. Yes, there are many ways to vie for power. I say that words hold power. They are the ultimate form.
I love words. I always have. But, it’s a bittersweet love. Sometimes they are nice to me and sometimes not so much. I love complicated words I can barely pronounce. I love words that I have to look up in the dictionary to discover their meaning. I love big words I can barely spell. I love acronyms. I love sayings and lingo. Quotes. Jibberish. Babblings.
Oh words, sometimes you escape me when I’m seeking that specific one. You remain aloof, taunting me to find you. You do love your game of hide and go seek, don’t you? Find me, find me! Wherefore art thou, oh special word? And what is a word? Is a word still not a word if it were called something else? Would it still not hold the same meaning and power? Would it still not conjure up the smells, the sounds, the feelings, the memories and the moments in time? Ahhh, yes, beloved words. You hold a special place in my heart.
Words accumulate in my head. They congregate. They hold meetings. They run rampant like kids at a Chuck E Cheese birthday party! Before you know it, in a matter of seconds, my head is full of words. It’s at maximum occupancy. At this point, there is a line at the door. There is no more room inside for any more. Maximum Occupancy has been reached. The verbs are flying around and nouns are being slung by the dozens. The pronouns are serving up adjectives as fast as they are created. Hang around long enough and you will hear it… “I’ll buy a round of vowels for the house!” Oh, now it’s on! The fun has began! Just try and leave. Sure, I know, you just came by for one. At this point, it’s one in, one out and there is a cover charge at the door. There is a price to pay, allright! Being inside my head isn’t cheap.
The words, they come on their own accord. Uninvited, they just show up. Unannounced. Frequently. Suddenly. No warning. Always in groups. Never alone. Sure, sometimes it starts with one, but then it quickly turns into the masses. What is this, Summer Jam? A free-for-all? Open mic night? Sometimes they are unwelcome. Sometimes I wish they would shut the heck up and leave me to my peace. But no… chatter, chatter, chatter. On and on they go philosophizing about this and that. Sometimes making sense, often not. Really? Does anyone care what they have to say? Is it really that important? Oh, let’s make room in my head for the almighty Words! Hmmmphfff.
They decide when to adjourn and when to depart. Yes, there are a million ways in, but only one way out. Well, ok, there is a second exit, but they prefer the main exit. So, if they must, they will settle for the rear exit door, which is out of my fingertips, one letter at a time. That’s the long way out and they must wait in line. It’s a slow process and often some of them are called back in… something was forgotten and they must return in order to complete it.
Most words refuse to depart until they can exit out of my mouth with their entourage, and only when there is an audience waiting for them. Yes, they do love the paparazzi. There is nothing like all the flashes of lights. Pop! Pop! They want to see themselves in the paper the next day. The media is their addiction. All eyes on them. Their names on the lips of all those who saw them. Each one gaining power through repetition, word of mouth, gossip. Attention, good or bad, it’s all good to them! Attention is attention!
So, back to the Power topic. Sorry about the stray. The words took over, once again and I had to make them exit so there is room for the words I want to talk about… so we can get back to the original topic. My weapon of choice is words. Words are the ultimate weapon of mass destruction or construction, depending on which ones you choose. Words are underestimated. Think about it. Ponder on it. Words are always with us. They are free, but they aren’t cheap. They can cost you a lot. A relationship. A life. A job. Your freedom.
Sometimes, we think we own words. That we really have the power. You would think we were the ones who came up with the English Language! We think we hand picked our words and put them together in a sentence and we are the first one to do it that specific way. HaHaHa! If you own your own words, then just try and make them go away! They own us! Just try and think nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all. You just said to yourself, “think nothing.” That’s something. Actually, that’s nothing. Nothing is a word.
Oh, sure, you who meditate, you actually tell yourself you CAN think of nothing. You ARE in control, right? After all, you thought of nothing and you did this for 5 minutes and you’re proud of that? LOL. 5 minutes out of 24 hours or 1440 minutes in a day. Sure, the words say, go ahead and take your little 5 minutes if that will make you feel better about yourself! The words are mocking you. They know who is in control. So do you. They are staring at you and you can see them floating around in your head. Sure, you are pretending to ignore them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. They own you and you both know it!

The Magical Mystery Tour of My Mind

 

I love songs… music… lyrics. Mostly I love lyrics. I frequently wake up with music playing in my mind and I wonder where that song came from. It’s often a song I don’t even remember hearing before and I must have been dreaming about it.

So, I wake up, crawl out of bed at nine o’clock on a Saturday and shuffle in… to the kitchen…and get my tonic and gin. Every morning just before breakfast I don't want no coffee or tea. I drink alone. You know when I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself. Did I say I was having tonic and gin? Whoops, what I meant was coffee.  I wouldn’t be drinking yet ‘cuz John is there. And I prefer to drink alone. Oh yeah, I already said that.

I start the day by singing off key. Often, I’m not really sure how the melody goes. Sometimes it’s sad and sometimes it’s sweet. One thing is for sure… I knew it complete when I wore a younger girls clothes!

Poor John! No, not John at the bar that’s a friend of mine. That John gets me my drinks for free and he’s quick with a joke. He will also light your smoke, but I don’t smoke. I’m talking about MY John… JG, the Bombshell artist. You know? That guy in my life J Well, anyway, poor John, he has to listen to me sing off key. La la la, di da da. La la, di di da da dum. Yup, John has to hear it all. He often says,  “Carol I think you forget about real life for a while. Man, what ARE you doing here?”

If I don’t know the lyrics, I make them up. Whatever I feel like saying, or whatever rhymes, or whatever other crazy words that pop into my head. And there are lots of them. I have more words floating around in my head than I have acquaintances in life. 

Sure, this probably is entertaining for John, if not annoying, but mostly it’s for me. I love to entertain myself. If I’m not going to, then who is? I mean, it isn’t John’s job to entertain me. I feel a certain responsibility to take care of that myself. I’m not against pleasing myself, that’s for sure!

I once had a boyfriend tell me he could drop me off in the middle of a field by myself for a day and he was sure I would have fun and find plenty to do and talk about. I’m sure he was right. Once there, I would look over yonder and see the sun arisin. Here comes the sun. And I would say, it’s all right. I can handle this! The ice is slowly melting. A new day is comin! I would run around as fast as I can. And then I would look around and say, “I think I’m alone now. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around. The beating of my heart is the only sound.” But, I’m not speaking to anyone other than myself, cause I am, after all, alone. Did I say alone? Who I am kidding? I always have an audience and that’s ME! I listen to that voice in my head often and sometimes I talk back! So… back to what my old BF said about me and the field… I still don’t know… is this an insult or a complement?

So, I listen to voices in my head. Echoes of things that you said. Does that make me insane? Possibly. But you have to admit. I do have a certain style and spunk that makes you like me anyway! I have that Boom Boom Pow. I’m so 3008. You tryin to copy my swagger? Don’t do it! You can’t handle it! It may seem like something you want, but you can’t always get what you want. Keep trying. If you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need. And, getting what you need is often much better than getting what you want.

Am I crazy? Yes, probably. But don’t call me crazy! I did go crazy. That was back in ‘92 when I partied like it was 1999. Some friends of mine said, “Let’s go crazy!” So, we did. Like I said, don’t call me crazy. Some call me Space Cowboy and that’s ok, and others call me the Gangster of Love. A few of my friends call me Maurice, ‘cuz I speak of… well… that’s a long story, so don’t ask. I’d just prefer you call me Carol Ann. It’s much simpler that way. And, after all, it’s really who am I. What I want to know is, who are you? Who, who, who? Sorry, didn’t mean to repeat myself. I stretched back and I hiccupped. So, appreciate who you are. Don’t worry about what people call you. There isn’t much in a name. After all, a rose is still a rose. By any other name it would still smell as sweet. And, a boy named Sue is still a boy. So don’t let your name define you. Let’s all just come together. Peace, it’s the answer. Unless you’d like to give love a try? 

The Naked Truth

I love skin! It’s amazing! Think about it…. what else is so versatile, so reliable, so fabulous? And it’s with us forever. It’s like a best friend or sig other that puts up with all your abuse! You cut it, and unless it’s a terrible, horribly deep cut, it heals on its own. And even if it’s horribly deep, we sew it back together and then it heals. Sure, it may scar, stretch a little, get some wrinkles or get discolored with some spots on it, but it still works just fine! I mean, give it a break! It’s got a tough job of holding your crap together!

Skin is our largest organ. Bet you didn’t know that, huh? It has so many jobs and it’s working all the time. For starters, it holds everything on the inside in. It’s like the frame to a car. It keeps most infections out. It looks good too, and comes in all colors J It’s soft, yet durable. Firm, yet stretchy. It’s super sensitive. A subtle stroke of a finger can send chills throughout the entire body.  How fun is that?! It protects itself. When exposed to sun, it darkens to avoid sunburn. And just think, every 35 days you get a brand new epidermis, the outer layer. The body is constantly replacing itself. How cool is that?

Skin loses 30 to 40,000 dead skin cells every minute. Not every day, but every minute! Wowsa! Once a day, it sheds a layer. I can’t even imagine that. About 80% of the material we see floating in a sunbeam is actually skin flakes! I told you skin looks good! No wonder there are little microscopic bugs that eat skin cells. Something needs to clean up that mess of all those flakes! We aren’t the only ones eating flakes for breakfast.

I can just imagine. You’re sitting in a movie theatre with 50 other people for two hours shedding skin cells. By the end of the movie, if not for dust mites, a person wouldn’t be able to walk out of the movie without rummaging through some visible accumulated skin cells. “Oh, pardon me, I didn’t mean to fall into your lap. I slipped on some skin cells!” I’m sure the dust mites get together and discuss where to go out for dinner. “I’m tired of staying home and eating at the mattress. Same old flakes. I want something different. Hey, want to go out to the theatre? It’s a best seller tonight and I’m sure there will be LOTS of skin cells there of all types. It’s a buffet!”

Speaking of dust mites, did you know that people with allergies to them, are not actually allergic to them? Nope. It’s their feces we are allergic to! Cool, huh? NOT! I’m one of those people with allergies. Why can’t they find and use a toilet like the rest of us? Why do they have to just poop anywhere and everywhere, leaving it around for people like us to breathe? Oh sure, they will clean up our mess, but they leave a new mess of their own. That’ll teach ya to leave your skin cells lying around, huh?

The human body fascinates me. It really is a miracle in action and most people take it for granted. I know I do, most of the time. But today, let’s appreciate the skin and all the hard work it does for us! So get naked! Celebrate the skin! Show it off. It IS gorgeous, ya know? The nerve of me, you say? Next week, we will talk about nerves, so tune in next week!